Timeline World War I
1889 *Ottoman Turks take over Serbia. **Significance: **The Turks took over Serbia on June 28. The Ottomans also ended up losing control over their weak empire. **Cause: Imperialism: Land, raw materials, etc. **Effect: Degradation of the Ottoman Empire, power to the balkan states, eventually powder keg. **Links: ---- 1871 *Bismarck completes efforts to unify Prussia and the German kingdoms into a single nation and has King Wilhelm I proclaimed Kaiser. **Significance: Germany becomes a strong nation industrially and politically, which would allow it to become a major player in WWI **Cause: German nationalism. **Effect: Increase of nationalism and industry **Links: ---- *Germany beats France in the Franco-Prussian War. **Significance: In this war, Germany humbled what had not long ago been the most powerful country in Europe. They won the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, which became a point of revenge for the French in the World War I. Also, it deeply struck French pride, and made the French determined to get back at the Germans. It added more fuel to the already out of control fire. **Cause: German & French rivalry, Germany wanted to go to war. **Effect: France badly wanted to regain the "lost provinces" and its position as Europe's main power. **Links: ---- 1882 *Otto von Bismarck forms alliances with Austria-Hungary and Italy **Significance: This made those cunts a powerful alliance and bred distrust between the other powers of Europe. **Cause: Wanted safety & strength. **Effect: Other European powers created alliances to counter the threat of a mighty Austria-Hungary. **Links: ---- *Franklin Delano Roosevelt born **Significance: FDR was the 38th president of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during the Great Depression and most of WWII. **Cause: **Effect:FDR was elected to 4 presidential terms and was very influential in the Democratic party. **Links: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/FDR_in_1933.jpg ---- 1883 *Benito Mussolini born **Significance: Mussolini would later establish Italy's facist party and declare himself Il Duche, or great leader. He was a great orator and convinced many people to come over to his side and then made themselves eternally loyal to their leader **Cause: Natural **Effect: Mussolini created fascism and led Italy through World War II. **Links: gertis room. halllaaa ---- 1886 *AFL founded **Significance: The AFL was the largest union grouping in the United States for the first half of the twentieth century **Cause: The standard industrial worker needed a way of speaking to the big bad industry owner. **Effect: The workers won some rights. Like higher wages, better medicare. And so on. **Links: ---- 1888 *After His father's death, Kaiser Wilhelm II becomes the ruler of Germany **Significance: Later he makes the decision to keep up the old alliance with Austria-Hungary **Cause: Death of Wilhelm I **Effect: Wilhelm II takes over Germany. **Links: ---- 1890 *Ho Chi Minh born **Significance: Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman, who later became Prime Minister and President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. **Cause: **Effect: Minh is most famous for leading the Viet Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communist-governed Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu. **Links: ---- 1893 *New Zealand becomes the first country to give women the right to vote **Significance: Inspired other women's suffragists. Showed that not only the United States could pioneer in liberal suffrage. Encourages other British commonwealth members to provide suffrage to women. **Cause: Worldwide women's suffrage movements and protests **Effect: Women gained the right to vote in many other countries **Links: ---- 1894 *Nicholas becomes Czar **Significance: Originally didn't want the position. His reluctance to rule the country may have aided the revolutionaries in their struggle **Cause: Father's death **Effect: Helped revolution erupt in Russia Links: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3d/Tsar_Nicholas_II_-1898.JPG ---- *France allies with Russia **Significance: This created another powerful alliance and accelerated the militarism and tension in Europe. **Cause: Political instability. Russia would make a good ally in the attack of Germany **Effect: Heightened tensions between European powers. **Links: ---- 1899 *First Universal Peace Conference held in the Netherlands **Significance: Attended by many government officials, this gathering was one of many attempts to avoid the war before it began. It was one of the first attempt to cooperate with other countries to work for international peace. At this conference, the Hague Tribunal, a world court, was set up to mediate disputes between countries. However, the court couldn't enforce its decisions. **Cause: Heightened military and cultural tensions. Possibility of a world war **Effect: Not much. Lacked the power to enforce laws **Links: ---- 1900 *Germany's factories become more productive than England's. **Significance: This was the beginning of an age of German economic dominance in Europe and also raised tensions between the Germans and the English. **Cause: German need for militarization **Effect: Tension between the Brits and the Germans **Links: ---- 1901 *Queen Victoria dies **Significance: Ended the Victorian Age in England, a time period of rules, and etiquette. **Cause: Old Age **Effect: End of Victorian Age. Somber time in Britain **Links: ---- *Emporer Hirohito is born **Significance: The Emperor saw Japan through such troubling times as the Sino-Japanese war and WWII. He was the longest reigning emperor and oversaw many major changes in Japan during his lifetime. **Cause: **Effect: Many changes were made in Japan throughout his time. **Links: ---- 1903 *Wright Brothers fly first airplane at Kitty Hawk, NC **Significance: Rise of the airplane. **Cause: discoveries by Bleriot and others **Effect: Flight connects the continents, faster transportation, new weapon of war. **Links: ---- 1904 ---- *France and Britain sign an entente **Significance: Although ententes are much less binding than alliances, this had some of the affects that alliances do, especially since Britain also signed an entente with Russia. **Cause: Political tensions, danger of attack from Germany, Italy **Effect: Formed alliances that lasted to the second WW. **Links: ---- 1906 *British Launch first dreadnought Class battleship **Significance: Symbol of the technological advancement that was one reason of the extremely high fatality rate. British navy still has supremacy **Cause: British obsolete navy needed an upgrade **Effect: Increased the potency of the already dangerous navy. Later battleships would use radar guided cannons to attack targets out of site. **Links: ---- 1912 *June 28- Serbs win independence from the Ottoman Turks **Significance: **Cause: Serbs disliked Ottoman rule. Oppression, Balkan powder keg. **Effect: **Links: ---- *Small Balkan states attack Turkey he killed tyler casebolt **Significance: This showed how the Balkan states disliked the larger, oppressive countries. Also, the Balkan countries fought amongst themselves over the profits of the war against Turkey, which further raised tension in that area before World War I. **Cause: Balkan Powder keg, Ottoman oppression **Effect: Ottoman empire destabilized, ethnic conflict in Balkans--which is carried over to Bosnia/Kosovo conflict post-communist regime **Links: ---- 1914 *The Guns of August "The Start of WWI" **Significance: During this month, WW1 was started by a long chain of war declarations. Germany declares war on Russia (August 1st). Germany declares war on France (August 3rd). Germany declares war on Belgium (August 4th). In reaction, England declares war on Germany. Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia (August 6th). **Cause: People couldn't desert their allies, and the conflict mushroomed out of control. **Effect: World War I **Links: ---- *"The Battle of the Frontiers" **Significance: 27,000 French soldiers die on this single day in an offensive thrust to the east of Paris, towards the German borders. **Cause: French did not want the Germans to win **Effect: French pride and optimism **Links: ---- *June 28- Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife Sophia are killed by Serbian nationalists in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. Bosnia was home to many Serbian nationalists at the time. **Significance: The assassination by the group the "Black Hand," also known as "Unity or Death," was the spark that ignited the Balkan "Powder Keg" and started World War I. This marked the end of a century of relative peace in Europe. **Cause: The Serbs were angry at oppressive Austria-Hungary. **Effect: Put a spark in the powder keg which ignited into war. **Links: ---- *Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. **Significance: This conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia triggered a chain reaction of war declarations that resulted in all out war in Europe. **Cause: Austria-Hungary felt insulted and outraged by the assassination **Effect: More powers were drawn into the war. **Links: ---- 1915 *German submarines, called U-boats, sink the American ocean liner Lusitania, killing about 1,200 passengers, 128 of which were American. **Significance: The United States had been shipping weapons and supplies to the Allies on the Lusitania and other ships. The Germans sank them with U-boats in response, killing some innocent neutral passengers in the process, but the Germans felt that they were justified since the U.S. was shipping weapons to their enemies. One of the events that triggered the US involvement in the war. **Cause: Germans felt angry that the "neutral" Americans were helping the Allies **Effect: The Americans were resentful towards the Germans for killing civilians. **Links: ---- ```bold``` The Battle 1916 *The Battle of the Somme River **Significance: More than a million soldiers were killed at the 5 month battle at the Somme River, but there is still a stalemate. In one day, 60,197 British troops were killed. Started to stop the flow of troops to Verdun **Cause: **Effect: Death of people. Attempted to stop the battle of Verdun **Links: ---- *Battle of Verdun **Significance: The longest battle of the war shows the power of total war, ending in a great stalemate with many losses on both sides. This is a symbol of how WWI is fought, and the reality of total war. Germany came to slowly starve France but the battle resulted badly for the Germans **Cause: **Death. Stalemate. Some countries moved six yards **Links: ---- 1917 *The Zimmerman Telegram is revealed to the American public **Significance: The Zimmerman telegram was a telegram from Germany asking the aid of Mexico in defeating the U.S. The British intercepted the telegram and then gave it to the U.S. government. Thought to be a forgery at first, later confirmed by Arthur Zimmerman himself in 1917. Another thing that may have pushed the US into war. **Cause: Britain wanted to draw the US into the war. **Effect: The US was drawn into the war. **Links: ---- *The United States joins the war on the side of the Allies. **Significance: This was a turning point in the war, because although the increase in troops wasn't huge, the Americans were fresh troops and brought a new hope. Also, it is part of the end of British international dominance, because the British required American help to win the war. **Cause: Lusitania, cultural ties, the Zimmerman telegram, etc. **Effect: The Allies won. **Links: ---- 1918 *War ends on November 11 at 11am. **Significance: End of the war. End to the bloodshed **Cause: German government wanted an armistice. **Effect: People had huge armistice parties **Links: ---- *The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk **Significance: Lenin and the Bolshevik's signed the treaty in order to pull out of the war with Germany. In exchange for leaving, Russia was forced to give a huge amount of land. Lenin signed the treaty to keep from fighting two wars and instead concentrated on keeping the peace inside the Motherland **Cause: Lenin wanted to get out of the war to stabilize Russia back home. **Effect: Allies lost an ally, Russia became stable. **Links: ---- 1919 *Paris Peace Conference **Significance: The Paris Peace Conference delegates drafted the Treaty of Versailles and blamed Germany for the war, and demanding that they pay the equivalent of about $30 billion in reparations. In the long run, the treaty of Versailles was a failure. The incredible reparations Germany was forced to pay only fueled resentment within the German people, leading to World War 2. **Cause: Allied resentment of Germany **Effect: Set the stage for Germany, Italy, and Japan to want to get back at the Allies. **Links: ----